Interview with JHK and Heather Irmiger

Jenn Fields did an great interview of the recently Firecracker 50 winners, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Heather Irmiger, Boulder's husband/wife team. All the content below is from the Daily Camera Story Big Thank you to Jenn and the Daily Camera for the interview!!

This couple has stars and stripes to spare.

Husband and wife pro mountain bikers (and Boulder residents) Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Heather Irmiger went back to the Firecracker 50 on the Fourth of July to defend their titles as the national marathon mountain-biking champions. And they both won their events in the 50-mile race out of Breckenridge again -- despite a flat that let some contenders pass Horgan-Kobelski in the first lap.

They're also the current national champions in cross-country mountain-biking. They'll be defending those titles in just over a week in Granby.

Here's what the couple had to say about hanging onto their titles, how they greeted each other at the finish line and what would've happened at home if only one of them had won.

Q: Seven hundred and fifty people did this race. Were you both passing people?

A: H: Jeremy probably not so much, because we all start at the same time, so the pro men are always in the front. I was passing some pro men and duking it out with some of the guys out there.

J: The field is actually really limited. They turn away a lot of people for this race every year ... the (U.S.) Forest Service has a cap. They could do far more than that if they just opened the registration.

Q: You both won this race last year, too. Were you going for the double?

A: H: Definitely.

J: Defending a national title is something you always want to go after.

H: I felt a lot more nervous this year. It's way more nerve-wracking when you're trying to defend a title.

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